Two floristic areas, La Purisima and Burton Mesa, situated close to each other in the Lompoc area, share many interesting endemic plants. Stabilized sand dunes are the underpinnings of the unique maritime chaparral found at these locations. Underneath these very porous sands is a shale substrate of low permeability.

(Ceanothus - Ceanothus cuneatus var. fascicularis)

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On a Santa Barbara Botanic Garden tour of three Lompoc areas of floristic interest, a short stop was made some 5-6 miles along the Jalama Beach Road at Jualachichi Summit. The Jualachichi Summit area is interesting because of a number of relictual endemic species growing there; species that are more suited to redwood habitat than other local habitats. (Relict - an organism that was abundant at an earlier time but currently found in a just a few places.) Redwood-type habitat consists of trees and shrubs usually found in the cool redwood forests of the Northern Coast ranges and the Sierra Nevada - and is present in only a few north-facing slopes in Santa Barbara county, one of which is Jualachichi Summit. Others are Linevan Canyon, Painted Cave and north-facing areas of Santa Ynez Mountains.

(Jualachichi Summit)

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